


Like A DAD !

by LazyLuc



Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Donnie being older than Leo in my headcanon, Enjoy!, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Hugs, Humor, Or At Least I Tried, Slice of Life, april is their sister basically, raph being a good big brother with dad vibes, rottmnt with Onward vibes, they're one big happy family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:02:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25548658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LazyLuc/pseuds/LazyLuc
Summary: Three times where the brothers see Raph as a dad, and one time he finally notices.Made with @PrototypeLQ
Relationships: Donatello & Leonardo & Michelangelo & April O'Neil & Raphael (TMNT), Donatello & Leonardo & Michelangelo & Raphael (TMNT)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 87





	Like A DAD !

1- Donnie

Currently, Donnie was near the entrance of his lab as he stared at the floor while Raph was in front of him and lecturing him about his actions, even if he wasn’t really listening to his big bro.

The reason of why he was in this situation to begin with was that he had been building a new, very clever and effective upgrade for his high-tech bō and had the less brilliant idea of testing it soon after finishing it. That is, around two in the morning, when all of his brothers and also Splinter were asleep and he was the only one still up tinkering in his workshop.

But sadly, his genius idea literally went up in smoke as it exploded during the test with a strong and very loud "BOOM" that echoed through the sewers.

Who was immediately followed by a powerful "DONIIIIIIE!" And if he knew the red turtle as well as he thought he did, and he knew he did, it usually meant 'You’re into trouble young man!’.

"Do you realize you could have hurt yourself like that?" And here he was, as his big brother lectured him.

"Sorry, Raph…" Honestly, he just wanted to go back to his workshop to find out what was wrong with the upgrade, but he knew that with Raph watching over him, that would be impossible.

“You better be sorry! Do you know how you worried us with that explosion? Besides, what were you doing at two am working? You are supposed to be sleeping!" The oldest turtle continued to scold him.

"Oh that’s fine, you're not my dad!"

"I'm not, but that doesn't stop me from worrying about you!" Even though his older brother's tone and voice were angry, his face only expressed concern for his younger brother.

Donatello rolled his eyes, sometimes Raph's brother protective instinct was hard to handle.

Seeing his little brother's reaction, the red turtle realized that he wasn't listening to him anyway and that it was already quite late.

Raph sighed, "Okay, I’m gonna pass for this one. But next time you experiment something, please avoid doing it in the middle of the night? And above all, avoid almost exploding yourself please?" His voice had grown softer as he spoke.

"Yeah, got it..." Donnie was still kinda upset that he couldn't continue his tests, but since he had just blown up about half of his workshop, he judged that even if Raph let him go, he couldn't doing much anyway.

“Okay, back to bed now." Was the only warning the purple turtle had before Raph took him like he weighed absolutely nothing (which was probably the case now that he thought about it) and started to walk to his brother’s room.

“Hey! I can walk!" He had too much pride for that! Seriously, he wasn't a baby anymore! He didn't need his brother to put him to bed like he and his brothers did when they were little turtles, no matter that his brother was still the tallest of the family and that he was always been able to lift them easily.

At that his brother just hummed and continued on his way. In reaction, Donnie gasped dramatically, as if his own brother had betrayed him, and that reaction was not at all dramatic, okay!

Raph finally let him go and Donatello landed on his bed with an ‘ Oof ’ sound.

"How long have you been awake anyway?" ‘Too long’ was what he wanted to reply but he kept his mouth shut, his brother continued, "You shouldn't be working until that late Donnie. Well, good night lil’ bro!" The larger turtle says in the same tone that a parent would talk to their kid.

“Yeah, good night Raph." He answered with his voice a little blocked as his was still face first into the mattress. His brother laughed a little and smiled softly, before leaving he added "Don't go to bed too late."

Honestly, Raph was behaving more like a dad that a brother sometimes, what he was supposed to do with that. If he wanted to keep his image of a person without feelings, he couldn't say that the fact that Raph was always looking after him and his bros made him happy.

But he was smiling softly to himself as he put on his pajamas and closed his eyes to rest for the first time in just too long.

.

Unknown to Donnie and Raph, at the sound of the explosion a certain mutant rat-man woke up and went to see, where the other brothers had already guessed what had happened and had let Raph lecture their genius bro.

Splinter at the sight of the scene and at Raph's dedication to his little brother well-being smiled knowingly to himself and walked away, knowing that the brothers will always be there for each other, and that Red in particular would always watch over them.

.

2- Leo

Hueso, "You know what I'm going to have to do..."

Leo, "Please, don’t!" He said in a plaintive tone without really believing in his own words, he knew the minute the firdt table at Hueso’s establishment was broken that he was screwed.

Hueso, “I'm going to call your dad."

"UURG! Come on!" He couldn't help but growl. "Can't we sort this out nicely? We're friends, aren't we? Ummm?" Suddenly he lifted his head as an idea occurred to him and smiled. "And what if I put that on the line?…" he said as he placed two coupons for a teddy bear in one of Hueso's bony hand.

"Just because you failed to get me to cooperate with one ticket last time doesn't mean that with two it works!" He exclaimed almost offended as he handed the tickets back to him instead of balling them up and throwing them like the first time he tried this. Leo was glad that although the yokai skeleton would never admit it out loud, they had become good friends.

Without doing it on purpose, earlier Leo participated into a battle at his friend's place when a villain mutant that he already fought with his bros in the past (although it was really rare that there was mutants instead of yokai except for them, but here they were) recognized Leo and a fight followed within the establishment. But in his defense, Leo made a heck of a show for every client watching him fight.

The villain ends up fleeing after that the great Leo kicked his butt but the fight had done some property damage and the other mutant was already too far away to ask him to come back and pay for everything he broke.

"So what's your father's number again?" Hueso's voice comes.

Shiiiiiiiit, he couldn't tell his pops that he had accidentally damaged a mystic pizza place! He had nothing against his dad but if he found out about that he wouldn’t ever hear the end of how that was the perfect setting where he could have used bowls instead of his teleporting portal-generating Ōdachi to fight.

“Urrg, what would Lou Jitsu do?" He thought not dor the first time, but it was quite unlikely that Lou Jitsu would ever be in trouble because he damaged a pizza place and his friend/owner was asking him to call for his dad.

So in a slightly less familiar but not unfamiliar way, he thought, "What would Raph do?" Hoping Mind Raph would give him some helpful advice.

Mind Raph materialized in Leo's mind and pointed with a thumbs up to himself while saying, "Just call me!" And he was right! Leo could just call him instead of their dad! It wouldn't be the first time their big brother has taken the role of their father in the immediate absence of their dad, so there was no promblem!

"Oh, my dad's phone number? Here it is." He then dictated the number to Hueso. Leo was glad that Donnie made a phone for each one of them, it was really handy sometimes.

And so, like a student who got into trouble and waiting for their parents to arrive after the teacher called them, he waited in one of the seats that hasn’t been destroyed while trying to make conversation with his skeleton friend.

Finally, a big red turtle appeared at the entrance to the pizzeria through the wall. And Hueso directly noticed the difference between his oldest brother and the rat-man he had heard about. “He's not your father." He said with a certain reproach in his voice as he turned to Leo.

“Dad, Raph, same difference! Besides, he's the oldest of all of us and also the most mature one anyway!"

Hueso sign, decided to roll with it and walked over to Raph, "Well, I guess even if you're not his father you'll do."

"What did he do?" His big brother said as if it was routine for Leo to break stuff and then for Raph to talk their way out of the problem. Which, to be fair, was the case.

After that Hueso explained to him what had happened and why his restaurant was in such bad shape compared to usual, Raph apologized for his little brother and Hueso demanded a repayment. At this Raph seemed taken by surprise, Leo knew it was Donnie who was taking care of the finances in the family, not Raph.

"Um, well," Raphael said very classy, "It's not much but here." He handed him a discount coupon to make a teddy bear with both hands, bending down his spine a little like their father had taught them.

A silence.

At the expression on the skeleton's face of disbelief and like if it was written 'why?' on it, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing (again), Leo could only burst into laughter.

Just the picture was so hilarious for him that he had tears in his eyes and practically rolled on the floor at this point. He couldn't believe his brother had done the exact same thing as he did, but he did got his coupons through his big brother after all.

Raph honestly had a genuine confused expression on his face at Hueso and Leo's reactions.

The skeleton said to Leo a little irritated, "Well, at least now I know who you get from at least..."

At that Raph looked like something clicked and roughly figured out what was going on and looked a little embarrassed. He pushed the coupon into one of the bony hands of the yokai and then took Leo under one of his arms and ran into the mystic portal wall.

The youngest turtle waved goodbye at his friend while still laughing. "Alright, thanks for everything, sorry for the inconvenience, bye!" Added Raph, still running.

Leo had a smile plastered on his face the whole time. He was glad that whatever problem he would fallen into, his oldest brother would always be there to help him out.

The owner barely had time to say "Hey-!" Before Raph and Leo were already gone, leaving him alone, in a damaged restaurant, with now three discount coupons for a teddy bear.

And Leo was right, at least his older brother DID tried to be mature (at least he tried his best). He had rather low exceptions for the father of those brothers agents of chaos.

But surprisingly enough, the red turtle had met them.

Maybe he could get Hueso junior a teddy bear or two on his way home after all.

.

3- Mikey

Mikey's head popped out from the kitchen, "Hey Raph, can you help me cook something?"

"Of course Mikey." Raph put his alters down on the floor and walked to the kitchen.

Although Mikey was the best cook in the house with their dad, Raph was the second best brother to cook. Something to do with the fact that he used to make meals for his little brothers when they were little, although there’s not much age difference between them. It was also Raph who had made Mikey interested and taught him the basics of how to cook before Splinter offered him a cookbook.

"What do you need my help with?"

"Oh, well…" Mikey seemed to hesitate and looked at the kitchen utensils scattered around them as if he was looking for something but wasn't sure what. Raph tilted his head on one side in confusion.

"Ah-Ah!" Mikey exclaimed, as he victoriously holds up the big bowl with the kitchen whisk and some eggs in it in the air.

"Can you beat the eggs for me, please?" He then made the best puppy eyes he had, even though, knowing his big brother, he already knew the answer.

"Sure buddy." The red turtle replied, bless his brother for his kindness. He never said no if he could help someone, especially if that 'someone' was one of his little brothers.

"I'm trying to bake a cake by the way!" He said as he got ready to work on the other ingredients.

"Better make a big one then." Raph replied.

"Haha, yeah!" And if Mikey knew his older brother well, he had to make sure that at least half the cake was enough to appease the red turtle’s big appetite. Although he knew Raph meant that they had to make enough for everyone.

So they baked together, Mikey giving him more chores as the cake was being made. Mikey really enjoyed cooking with Raph, he was so happy that he was humming a catchy tune to himself. His brother’s precense was familiar and also nostalgic to him, it reminded him of so much good memories, like that one time when they accidentally set the kitchen on fire... Okay, maybe they had happier cooking memories than that.

Raph had always been there for them, pops had never discouraged him to do so, and Mikey was almost sure that having an eldest son who looked after his little brothers so much was the dream for a lot of parents and siblings. It was almost like Raph was a father figure.

...

.......

Oh mi gosh he was a father figure.

"Hey, Mikey," the red turtle snapped him out of his thoughts, "Why did you ask me for help?" Mikey turned to him with a slightly confused expression, "Why not?"

"I mean, you don’t need my help, I know you're strong enough to whip the eggs yourself and you’re an amazing cook too." Raph was probably referring to all the times where he yeeted things that should clearly not be yeeted, like cargo, trucks and such.

"Oh, well…" It’s always better to tell the truth, he reminded himself of doctor delicate. "Do you remember when you taught me the basics of cooking when we were kids, and we used to cook together? I missed that a bit, so I kind of made an excuse to do that with you again."

"Mikey," Raph put one of his hands on his little brother's head and then pat him gently and always careful to control his strength like he always did. "You don't have to make up any excuse if you just wanna spend time with me you know, you can just ask me." If Mikey had hair, they would probably be messy with all the patting.

Raph was smiling gently at him with a kind expression that judged by others would be odd on a person of this stature and appearance. But for Mikey and the rest of the family, there was nothing more natural.

Yup, definitely a father figure.

.

4- Raph

Mikey, Leo, Donnie and himself were in the living room of the lair, Leo and Mikey were playing a video game while Raph was in the armchair right behind them and watched the game playing between them, Donnie was in the other armchair at his right, eyes fixed on his phone.

Then a sudden revelation came to him.

"Guys?..."

His brothers looked back at him, curious. Mikey paused the game they were playing and Donnie stopped tapping on his phone to listen to him.

“Am I like, a dad to you or what?"

Without even considering for a second, Mikey replied with a smile “Kinda!"

Leo, “Pretty much."

Donnie, “Yeah."

Raph looked at them like they've grown a second head. “What?? He could only respond, confused by their replies and even more confused by the fact that it sounded so obvious to them.

“I thought you knew." Leo replied at the extreme confusion that was on his oldest brother’s face.

"I didn’t!" He answered immediately. "What about dad then?"

"I’m pretty sure he knows." Mikey answered this time, his smile still on his face.

“I _do_ know!" As to prove his point, a vague voice came from somewhere further into the lair.

“DAAAAD?!" The exclamation of disbelief came as Raph was now kneeling on the armchair and was facing around where Spliter's voice came from.

Donnie seemed to find the whole exchange funny since he had a amused look on his face, barely hidden by his now forgotten phone as Raph looked at him desperately for answers to the news he was apparently the only one who didn’t know.

Leo and Mikey seemed to also enjoy the show if he could tell by how they were trying to hold back their laughs. He appreciated the effort though. But he still needed answers.

"What do you mean by 'he knows' Mikey?! Wait." Raph turned in his chair again, facing where his dad in an other room was. “DAD! Do I behave like a dad sometimes?" He called.

A distant voice replied for the second time, "You sure do, son!"

Raph, “WHAAAT?!"

Leo burst out laughing, Mikey as well but less loudly while Donnie was still holding back.

Raph spoke again, much quieter than earlier, "But, isn't it... Weird?"

At the doubt in the voice of the red turtle, Leo decided to reassure him by smiling and putting his arm around the shoulders of his big brother," Of course it’s not bro, what would we be without your parental instinct anyway?" But Raph still didn't look completely convinced as he slid his gaze to Leo to the floor.

Suddenly a paternal hand rested on Raph's shoulder, he turned his head to see Splinter who had probably come to see what was happening, patting him on the shoulder. "Raphael, know that I could never dream of having a better son who cares for his brothers as much as you do. I’m so proud of you."

At the end of this sentence Raph had tears in his eyes and before anyone could add anything else, the red turtle hugged them all in his arms in one big hug as he was smiling one ear to another, as the others were reacting to being lifted by Raph, and gave his family a very light squeeze, still aware of his own strength.

“I love you so much guys!" Raph said in a tone that couldn't be more sincere.

This was followed by “Same here, red” and several variations of “Love you too, bro!" at the same time from his father and his baby brothers. While the four of them were held by one man in a big family hug. Too bad April, (aka their adopted sister) wasn't there but Raph made a mental note to tell her how much she meant to them and give her a hug as soon as she was back into the lair.

Raph couldn't imagine having a better family than the one he already had.

.

Some hours later, Raph could be find hugging a very confused April O'Neil as he had a big smile on his face as the other brothers watched a little amused but also were smiling kindly and had sweet gazes on their faces as well.

“What happened here??" She asked genuinely confused while still being hugged by Raph.

Donnie, "Oh nothing, just Raph embracing his inner-dad."

April, "..."

April, "Excuse me, WHAT?!"

**Author's Note:**

> The goal was to add some Onward vibes to rottmnt, hope you liked it!
> 
> Also I’m not sure at all which of Donnie and Leo is older, but who cares!


End file.
